Writing for the Web
Writing for the Web is not the same as writing for print because people read differently on the Web. One of the impediments to online reading is physical: It’s harder to read on a screen than it is to read on paper.
Even the best computer monitors are hopelessly fuzzy when compared to the crisp images on a glossy magazine page, and the extra effort this requires from human eyes and brains slows readers down. The longer the document, the bigger the problem.
The physical impediment will lessen—perhaps even disappear—in time. Today’s monitors are vastly better than the ones in use a decade ago—especially the latest generation with flat screens and liquid crystal displays. Better software is also helping. Microsoft, for instance, has created a superior family of type fonts specifically designed for online reading (Arial and Tahoma are two of the most widely used). Innovation continues.
But the more significant barrier web writers must overcome is behavioral, not physical, and technological advances may never break it down. Everyone who’s observed, tested, or studied online reading agrees that people behave differently when online. When viewing a new page, they don’t read—they scan. They look at headings and subheadings first; they scan for hyperlinks, numerals, and keywords. They jump around, scrolling and clicking—their fingers never far from the browser’s “Back” button. The word that best describes their behavior is: impatient.
The challenge for the web writer is to overcome readers’ impatience by keeping things as brief as possible. It’s a big challenge.
Shorter is better
Given these behavioral facts, the key difference between writing for the Web and writing for offline readers is that web writing needs to be shorter. Documents intended for online reading should rarely be longer than 1,000 words. A good target to aim for is 600 to 700 words. There are many approaches and devices that can help you learn to write more concisely, and an exhaustive review of them is beyond the scope of this guide. But we’ll mention a few.
If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
Web Writing Guidelines
- Say LESS
- Use the Inverted Pyramid
- Put more important content first
- Use clear headlines and headings
- Consider the users’ goals
- Establish trust
- Use active voice
Say LESS
This is the most important thing about writing for the web.
Because web users are generally scanning, not reading, the more concise the content, the easier it is to scan.
A good approach is to write concisely, then cut, edit, boil down, paraphrase and finally trim.
Use inverted pyramid for web content
The Inverted Pyramid reverses the workflow, by putting the essential information first, which it follows with further detail. The quick overview helps the reader get the point and purpose of a page instantly, letting the user make a quick judgement whether to read on for a bit more detail. (Note on the intro block at the top of each page on WDFS.)
the Inverted Pyramid style – ideal for web writing
Put more important content first (front-loading)
When a page is longer than its window, putting important content first gets it above ‘the fold’.
Scanning Aids - when scanning, you take in titles, the beginnings of paragraphs and first words of sentences.
Helps the user decide quickly whether they’re in the right place.
Scannability
Seventy-nine percent of Web users scan pages; they do not read word-by-word. Design your web document to be scannable: To make keywords stand out, use highlighting liberally: Highlight about three times as many words as you would when writing for print.
Use the <STRONG> tag rather than the <EM> tag for keyword highlighting. Since STRONG is usually rendered as boldface, this is typically the best way to highlight words.
Colored text or colored backgrounds can also be used for highlighting, but don’t use blue for words. That color is reserved for hyperlinks.
The hyperlinks also stand out by virtue of being colored, so they should be written to do double duty as highlighted keywords.
Highlight only key information-carrying words. Avoid highlighting entire sentences or long phrases since a scanning eye can only pick up two (or at most three) words at a time.
Highlight words that differentiate your page from other pages and words that symbolize what a given paragraph is about (for example, do not highlight the word “Sun” when writing for the Sun Web site since all the pages are about Sun.)
The <EM> tag is usually rendered as italics and can be used to make figure captions or emphasized sentences or phrases stand out. Do not use it for large blocks of text, since italic typefaces are slower to read online.
Bulleted and numbered lists slow down the scanning eye and can draw attention to important points.
Each paragraph should contain one main idea; use a second paragraph for a second idea, since users tend to skip any second point as they scan over the paragraph.
Start the page with the conclusion as well as a short summary of the remaining contents
Short and succinct
Remove any paragraphs, sentences and words that don’t directly help get your point across.
Can you find ways to say something in fewer words?
Front-load everything
Front-loading also applies to paragraphs and sentences. Start paragraphs with the most relevant words, to work like a header to the paragraph.
Use headlines and headings
A strong, attractive headline at the top of a page can make the difference between the page being read or ignored. Headlines and lower-order headings benefit from being large and high-contrast, so they attract the eye. Once you’ve attracted the eye, a headline needs hooks to catch your reader’s attention.
Use Headings
Legendary adman David Ogilvy once stated that “four out of five people don’t read past the headline, so when you’ve written your headline, you’ve spent eighty cents of your ad dollar.” Though you may feel you’ve spent lots of time fine-tuning your copy, it’s time to go a step further and give your paragraphs a heading. Your first aim is to summarize content, but if you can tease readers’ interest, that’s even better. Why not ask a question to be answered by the subsequent paragraph? (And while you’re at it, see if you can use one of your key search terms in the heading or subheads to boost rankings).
Use headings within a document to make it easy to scan the document’s meaning. Good journalistic headings read like a bullet-point summary of the document’s contents, so a reader can scan down the page, get a quick idea of what’s on the page, and decide whether to read in more detail.
Consider the user’s goals
When describing something they can do, describe it in those terms. The imperative voice (commanding) is attention-grabbing and helpful, so it should go at the front of a phrase. “Get blah here” “Subscribe to blah” “Place order” “Quit” (Remember, the user should be in control, and likes to feel in control)
Be factual, not cryptic
Your tone of voice should be immediately appropriate to the audience, and their relationship with the site.
Don’t be cryptic. Don’t assume you have your audience’s undivided attention. You probably don’t. You really have to work to grab someone’s attention online.
Being factual means avoiding starting with questions (e.g. “Have you ever found blah blah? Well, this is the thing for you!”). Start in the tone of voice you mean to use. You don’t have the time to expect your users to work out what you mean – TELL THEM QUICK, before they GO.
e.g. I just reviewed a site that opened with quotes from advertisements. In fact, the purpose of the site was actually to counter the claims of certain internet get-money-quick schemes. By using the tactic of heading up its home page with precisely the tone-of-voice of its opposition, it risked coming across complete wrong at the first scan.
Creating a good Headline
Make an effort to keep your title short.
Three to six words is the ideal length, and at around ten the maximum limit. Major search engines give high relevance only to the first set of words you use in the title, and they display only up to 8-10 words in their search engine result pages (Google and MSN; Yahoo displays up to 16 words).
Do not try to make the title “smart”, by using irony, word play or other “journalistic” approach. The title to be built must be thought as of a label to your article in the unlimited virtual library that the Internet is.
Inside newspapers the reader is already captive and searching, within the page, for items of possible interest.
On the Internet, headlines are often displayed out of context. The reader is searching for your content and will only get to it, if a most appropriate, serious and well thought out label is attached to it. On the web, readers often don’t get the chance of applying background understanding to the interpretation of the titles they are presented with.
The title must be a “label” or summary of the content.
Does the title accurately describe the full content to be published. If the answers to these two questions are positive ones then you are doing a great job of titling your content for the Web.
Headlines have to stand on their own.
Think of it in this way: if somebody was to read that title without the associated would she be able to tell what the article contained? Headline text has to stand on its own and make sense when the rest of the content is not available.
Is the title representative of what a typical potential reader of your content would write to search for content like the one you have in your article?
If the answer is yes again, then go for it. If not, put yourself in the shoes of your reader and type the search you would write in Google, Yahoo or MSN if you were to search for an article containing the same content you are about to publish; what would you write in the Google search box?
Strike at the start.
Make the first two-three words in your title contain keywords highly representative of your specific content. Make sure those words are the important information-carrying units of your title. Have them focus on concept, topic, theme of your content.
Proper names, products, brands and services names go last.
In general, leave product names in the end of the title as people who are searching for products or services by name will often want to go to the original manufacturer web site. If on the other hand you are providing review, analysis or commentary on specific products, people, organizations, you may want to associate qualifying keywords in front of the product name (e.g.: Issues and problem with Skype; Alternative tools to Microsoft Word, etc.).
Establish trust
Remember you’re operating in an environment of low trust, and you only have a short opportunity to get your message across. Imagine you’re stopping people on the street. Don’t oversell, set out the facts plainly and clearly. Be enthusiastic, but not pushy.
Example
The following text came off a ‘Contact me’ page.
“Hello, and welcome to the contact page. It is on this page that you can email me via the form on the left, or you can use the means of contact below”
You could replace all that with:
a) A title somewhere saying “contact me”
b) A title next to the email box saying “email me”
Use Active voice
English grammar uses two ‘voices’: active and passive.
Active voice is when something does something (actively). Passive voice is when something is done to something. e.g. “The user clicks the ‘About Us’ link” is Active, whereas “The ‘About Us’ link is clicked by the user” is Passive.
Active good, Passive bad. This is because passive voice uses slightly more words than Active, and takes slightly more decoding.
Active: ”Upload new contact information on the contact us page”
Passive: ”New contact information can be uploaded on the contact us page”
Because:
- It takes less mental decoding: it’s more linear, it feels simpler
- It’s front-loading: “This is telling me about something I can do”
- It’s more specific: “It’s telling me *I* can do something”
- It keeps the verb/object order “upload new contact information” (like a good hyperlink!)
- It’s slightly shorter, and big isn’t clever
Practice Makes Perfect
Like many art forms, writing effective web copy is a skill that grows with use. You don’t have to change your site’s copy all at once. Start with your most visible pages and working your way through the rest of your site applying these principles. Creating an easy-to-scan site enables visitors to find what they’re looking for, read what’s most important, and get further into your content-rich site without feeling bogged down.
Exercise
Write content for the home page of your website.